Monument Type(s):

• TUNNEL? (16th century to 17th century - 1500 AD? to 1699 AD?)
• DRAIN (Early 18th century to Late 19th century - 1700 AD? to 1899 AD?)

Summary

Brick lined drain running from Guildhall site.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2003 - 1960 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA5781 - 2003 assessment of the Guildhall site by Richard K Morriss

Description

A brick lined passage discovered in 1891, 3ft high, 2ft wide, excellent brickwork, Flemish bond, hard cement. Roof arched, floor slightly raised in the middle, fall of more than 3ft toward the river, no trace of water or sewage through it. Explored for 130ft, to where blocked in the vicinity of Newport House. Davies suggested it had been an escape route from the town house of the R Catholic Berrington family [PRN 10485] <1a>
Terminated by a plain rectangular opening in the wall and is brick lined internally . The floor appears by its gentle slope to be more appropriate to a post medieval drain than a passage <1b>
The passage has an opening 0.8m wide and 1.3m high approx 1m above present ground level. it is brick lines with a vaulted roof, and has a C18/ C19 appearance. OS FI 1960 <1>

The passage is now blocked a few feet from its entrance in the retaining wall [PRN 62581]. A second blocked passage appears to lead off it just within the face of the wall and parallel to it. The passage was said by Davies to terminate 'within a few feet of the foundation wall' of the Guildhall, and the plan accompanying the written description shows it ending at the Guildhall 's SE corner [<2>]. If it is not associated with the present Guildhall basement of c.1700 it may possibly have been associated with the previous building, moved, when the Guildlhall (Newport House) was built, to the castle [PRN 10130]. A drain or culvert seems the most likely explanation of this monument, pending further investigation <3>

This feature was examined as part of a 2003 assessment of the Guildhall site. The entrance to the culvert, or tunnel, is less than 1m high and 1m wide. It meets the face of the wall at an angle, but its jambs seem cut to cope with this; they also appear to course into the external face of the revetment wall. The initial section of the culvert is topped by flat stone slabs. After about a metre, there is a vertical chute (strongly suggesting that this is indeed merely a drainage culvert), and, beyond that, the culvert is topped by a segmental brick arch. Although there are cracks in the side brickwork between the two main sections, these may be structural. The floor is of partially robbed stone slabs. Access further into the culvert is blocked after about 4m. There is nothing to clearly indicate the exact date, but the use of bricks clearly implies a post medieval structure. The nature of the junction with the revetment wall [ie PRN 62581] suggests that the two structures are contemporary. <4>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 01465 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01a> Davies R E, 1909/ 1912, Article in the Transactions of the Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club, p270-271 (Article in serial). SSA5601.

<01b> Smith J T, 1953, Shrewsbury: Topography and Domestic Architecture to the Middle of the 17th Century, p137 (Manuscript). SSA4160.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1960, Ordnance Survey Record Card SJ41SE53 (Card index). SSA10652.

<02> Davies R E, The Subway in Dogpole (Manuscript). SSA10651.

<03> Baker Nigel J, UAD Analysis (SMR comment). SSA20432.

<04> Morriss Richard K, 2004, The Guildhall site Shrewsbury: an archaeological desk-top assessment and outline field evaluation, p12-13 (Field survey report). SSA21975.

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.